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Saturday Morning News

Israelis Take Wait-and-See Attitude Toward Arab League Summit

Aired October 21, 2000 - 9:00 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: We begin in the Middle East and the volatile situation between Israel and the Palestinians. The Arab League is meeting today in Cairo against the backdrop of fresh U.N. condemnation of Israel.

We start with CNN's Ben Wedeman at the Arab summit in Cairo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The emergency summit is intended to support the Palestinian cause. But there are widespread doubts that the 22 members of the Arab League can do more than take symbolic action and condemn Israel.

Opening the meeting, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak accused Israel of adopting a belligerent attitude, which, in his words, "threatens the very essence of peace," while Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat accused Israel of massacring Palestinians.

Notably absent from the summit is Libyan leader Mohamar Kadaffi, who recently said he has scant confidence in the summit's outcome. Notably present was an Iraqi delegation, the first to participate in an Arab summit since 1990.

The summit opened a day after at least nine Palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded in bloody clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza. Every day of new clashes sparks waves of anti-Israeli demonstrations across the Arab world, as public pressure mounts on Arab leaders to do more than just talk.

Hard-line groups, including Hezbollah, have called upon Arab states neighboring Israel to open their borders to Arab volunteers wishing to take the fight to Israel. Baghdad says more than 4 million Iraqis have volunteered to join a jihad, or holy war, against Israel.

Observers expect the two-day summit to conclude with a call for an end to normalization of ties between Arab states and Israel, and the collection of funds to support the Palestinians. Arab officials say there are no plans to use oil exports as a political weapon, wielded so effectively after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Friday said his government will wait until after the Cairo summit, monitor the level of violence, and then consider what he called a "time out" in the peace process. (on camera): Pro-Western Arab leaders say they're still committed to that process, but events on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza may render that commitment meaningless.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: International sentiment seems to favor the Palestinians. That is evidenced by last night's resolution by the United Nations General Assembly blaming Israel for the violence.

CNN's Brian Palmer has details of the vote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After hours of speeches stretching into the night...

HASMY AGAM, MALAYSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: We strongly condemn the actions of the Israeli security forces.

PALMER: ... the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution criticizing Israel for using excessive force against Palestinian civilians and blaming Israel for the recent violence, specifically Likkud Party leader Ariel Sharon's visit last month to a holy site shared by Jews and Muslims.

ABUZED OMAR DORDA, LIBYAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS (voice of translator): The Palestinian people must not alone pay the price of the plight of Jews in any corner of the earth. It is a question of occupation, and it should be dealt with on that basis.

PALMER: The Palestinians thanked supporters of the measure.

NASSER AL-KIDWA, PALESTINIAN OBSERVER TO THE UNITED NATIONS (voice of translator): We, Mr. President, are proud of this great majority that supported this important resolution and are pleased that there is no objections to it other than what we have grown used to.

PALMER (on camera): The language of the resolution is relatively mild compared to one adopted on Thursday by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which fiercely condemned Israel for what it called "crimes against humanity." The softened language a result of fierce behind-the-scenes negotiations between European Union representatives and the Palestinian delegation.

(voice-over): Israel and the United States both voted against the General Assembly measure.

YEHUDA LANCRY, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS (voice of translator): It doesn't say anything about the savage destruction of the military in Ramallah, the Israeli soldiers mutilated in Ramallah.

RICHARD HOLBROOKE, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Now that the resolution is behind us, I hope that people in the rest of the world will understand that the U.N. should not be a site of one-sided theater...

PALMER: Although the vote went against Israel, both the Israeli and U.S. ambassadors took comfort that more than a third of the countries voting either abstained or voted against the measure.

Brian Palmer, CNN, the United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: President Clinton is in Indianapolis today for a couple of political events, but much of his attention, of course, remaining focused on the Middle East.

CNN White House correspondent Major Garrett is traveling with the White House.

Major, good morning to you.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Well, in a couple of hours, the president will be here at the Indiana State Fair grounds in Indianapolis to attend, as you mentioned, a couple of fund raisers. He was scheduled to do that two weeks ago, but he canceled the fund-raising trip as the violence in the Middle East exploded. While the president spent two weeks working the phones feverishly, even flew to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for an emergency summit, trying to quell the violence.

Well, that hasn't worked very well. The administration continues to monitor, of course, the situation on the ground in the Middle East and also in Cairo at the Arab summit. And quite frankly, the news is not encouraging to the administration. And right now there is a sort of tight-lipped and repetitive quality to administration statements about the Middle East.

The president appeals again and again to the Palestinians and the Israelis to do whatever they can to end the violence. The president spoke with the Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat for about 15 minutes last night in Boston before flying here to Indianapolis. Mr. Arafat pledged to the president he was doing everything he can.

White House press secretary Jake Seward (ph) said the president plans to make more phone calls this weekend. None have been announced and none have been scheduled, but the White House assures us the president will continue to talk to all the leaders in the region to try to quell the violence -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: That's CNN's Major Garrett in Indianapolis -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: The Israelis themselves are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the Arab League summit in Cairo.

CNN bureau chief -- Jerusalem bureau chief, rather, Mike Hanna brings us up to date on the mood there -- Mike.

MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, all eyes are on that Arab summit, waiting to see what resolution is reached there. However, all eyes too on ongoing violence that continues to occur in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, serious clashes on this day in the Gaza Strip once again. At least one Palestinian has been shot and killed by Israeli security forces. Another Palestinian is reported to be clinically dead after a clash with the Israeli security forces.

The violence in Gaza followed mass demonstrations within the streets of Gaza City, tempers heated as well by Ehud Barak's threat to freeze the peace process should the violence on the ground not stop. And while the violence continues, so too does the heated rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN MERIDOR, ISRAELI PARLIAMENT MEMBER: I very much hope that people talk sense again and come to talk. We were at the table. Mr. Barak lost his majority because he went that far with them to try to reach an agreement, and the response left us with open mouths. What now?

MARWAN BARGHOUTI, FATAH PARTY LEADER: I think we give the chance and the time, enough time, for the negotiations. But the Israelis didn't respect, and they are not committed to the agreements which had been agreed upon. I think the Israelis didn't implement anything on the ground. We have a lot of agreements. We have nothing on the ground of the implementation of these agreements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNA: A mass funeral taking place in the West Bank town of Nablus, which has been the focal point of major conflict in recent days. Four people buried here, Isam Abdullah Fala (ph), Firaz Khalid Said (ph), Amjad Ahmed Ahran (ph), Atman Muhammad Kiri (ph), all four of them killed in clashes with security forces in the course of Friday. Once again, the clashes reported after the funeral in Nablus as the cycle of violence that has been prevalent here for now nearly a month -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Mike Hanna, live from Jerusalem, thank you.

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